Shadow of the Wolf

March 1, 2015
This grimdark reimagining of the Robin Hood legend, first in a projected trilogy, takes little from its source but the names and setting.Robin Loxley is already a consummate woodsman by age 7, when his father abandons him in the Winter Forest. He forms an inseparable bond with Marian, daughter of the local lord, but their idyllic, feral childhood ends with Marian's abduction by the mysteriously malevolent Sheriff and Robin training for knighthood. An abortive escape attempt leaves Robin blind and Marian imprisoned, but the capricious Forest gods have other plans....Don't expect roguish folk heroes or merry men in this unrelentingly joyless version, with its lush, sensuous prose and dense, glacial plotting. Rather, brace for bestial squalor and sadism, emphasizing cowardice, hypocrisy, madness, bloodlust, rape, and incest, and lingering on the grisly details of torture and savagery. Characters operate as mere puppets of a narrative propelled by cryptic forebodings and snatches of prophecy. The Sheriff is little more than a generic epitome of evil; his henchmen are mostly sniveling lackeys or psychopaths almost comical in their grotesquerie; Marian, whether as madcap tomboy or assassin mastermind, functions primarily to motivate Robin. Robin himself is strangely aloof and opaque, revealing little personality beyond sullen hate, berserker fury, and a consuming obsession with Marian more creepy than romantic.Imaginative depth and exquisite craft in service to a bleak and brutal muse. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

May 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-Debut author Hall has created a high-fantasy twist on the Robin Hood legend, the first book of a planned trilogy. Robin Loxley is abandoned as a young boy while out with his father hunting in Winter Forest. Marian is a fierce, young wild child who lives a life of privilege. The two children find each other and begin a years-long adventure in the woodlands near the village. Then one night, Marian vanishes and Robin is taken in as a ward of Sir Bors. Years later, the two are reunited and Marian tells Robin about the Sheriff-the man responsible for the deaths of his parents and brothers and of her mother. Readers waiting for all the Merry Men to arrive will be disappointed. This retelling is not faithful to the original legend, but takes it in a new direction where woodland gods and the supernatural are just simmering beneath the surface and lurking in the dark shadows. The action sequences can be on the gruesome side and some of the supernatural elements skew confusing, though more will no doubt be explained in future books. And because it is was not written as a stand-alone, the novel's pacing suffers just a bit in the middle chapters, but the final third builds to a satisfying cliff-hanger ending. VERDICT Older teen readers of fantasy and fans of reworked folktales will enjoy this series opener.-Elaine Baran Black, Georgia Public Library Service, Atlanta

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